Celebration of $51 million in Coastal Impact Assistance Program funds awarded to the state and Mobile and Baldwin counties last year has given way to confusion over whether some of it can be spent for public access and recreation.
In recent months, state and county officials have debated the federal Minerals Management Service about using the funds to promote boating, kayaking, hiking, picnicking and fishing, said Julie Batchelor, senior natural resource planner for Baldwin County.
"They are asking us to justify how some of these projects benefit the coastal environment. We believe that is how people learn to appreciate the environment and wildlife, by enjoying it and accessing it," Batche lor said. "They don't always seem to see it the same way. They have not said in writing they are not going to fund these projects, but it is just a verbal thing right now."
Among the proposals being scrutinized is $8 million for rebuilding Gulf State Park Pier, about half the cost of the work now under way, said Will Brantley, natural resource manager — state lands for the state Conservation Department.
"The point we've tried to make is (conservation and public access) are not mutually exclusive," Brantley said. "The education component is critical — if you don't educate the next generation, you may lose something in the future."
"MMS is in the process of working with the state of Alabama to approve its CIAP plan. It would be premature to comment on the discussions or the plan before it is approved," said Eileen P. Angelico, spokeswoman for the Minerals Management Service.
The coastal program was established to mitigate the impact of Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas production. It calls for $250 million per year from 2007 through 2010 for governments in Alabama, Alaska, California, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
Last fall the Interior Department announced Alabama would receive:
$33.2 million for the state.
$9.9 million for Mobile County.
$7.8 million for Baldwin County.
So far, the money has not been released. In Baldwin County, federal officials are questioning about $5 million in proposed spending, Batchelor said.
"Some of these things they may say 'no' to, so we're being cautious," she said.
Last month, Gov. Bob Riley signed a letter along with the governors of Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas challenging the Interior Department's interpretation of "authorized use" of the funds that excludes "recreational, public access and economic development projects."
The letter to Dirk Kempthorne, secretary of the Interior Department, states that it is "limiting the potential of these lands to be used to the fullest extent for public use and enjoyment while staying within the state conservation guidelines."
The governors asked that coastal program funds for non-disputed projects be released rather than holding up the entire plan while some projects are debated. And the letter calls the process and time frame for releasing funds "unreasonable and unacceptable."
Brantley, Batchelor and Bill Melton, environmental services director for Mobile County, are submitting a written response next week seeking to break the impasse. Brantley is optimistic they can work it out and hopes the dispute stems from a different agency overseeing the program this time than in 2001, when it was handled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Melton hopes that is all it will take, but he's not sure.
"I think there is a difference in philosophy, and we will learn how much effort it will take to resolve it when this is submitted," Melton said. "They've questioned every one of them that had to do with public access. ... We were under the impression that when you invite the public to a project site, it fosters an appreciation for the coast and that is a benefit."
Message From Bill Harper
May 23, 2008
Dear Friends,
Summer is upon us now, and I want to let everyone know what activities we have planned for the Isle-Dauphine Club over the next several months.
Indications are that Dauphin Island will have a robust crowd of visitors this summer. We have hired summer staff to maintain control, as well as keep the grounds neat and orderly.
The pool area opens this weekend, 10-6 daily, along with a pool-side area for food and beverages. Daily fees are: adults, $6; children 10-17, $4; and children under 10, $2. By showing your new DIPOA family-membership card and ID with family name, you will get a $1 discount on all pool fees. Summer memberships are $300 for two adults and four children; monthly memberships are $125 for the same.
Our beach environmental fee is $2 for everyone over 12 years of age, 7 days a week. Beach goers showing a 2008/09 DIPOA family membership card will be given free admission. This modest fee will help us employ summer youth who will maintain the grounds and beach, and will pay the cost for our security staff on weekends and holidays.
Every Wednesday night, the pool and Tiki snack bar area will have an alcohol free youth/children's night with music. Children under 10 will have to have adults accompanying them.
Our grill and Pro shop building has new, clean and crisp flooring. Thanks to everyone who assisted in the task of moving furniture, etc. Now we just have to find everything and put it back in its proper place.
I want to thank everyone who has sent their 2008/09 membership dues to us over the last several weeks. It's been heartening. We hope to break records this year with our membership dues. Your participation helps insure a brighter future for our Association. If you have not paid your yearly dues, please do so; it is a vital part of our income budget.
All the best for a great summer,
William (Bill) Harper
President, Dauphin Island Property Owners Association
Bill Harper’s Year-end Message
May 12, 2008
It has been a year since I took the helm of the Dauphin Island Property Owners Association. And although the learning curve for me and many of the newer board members has been steep, I think we have been successful in maintaining a straight course forward by jibing and tacking as demanded by the changing winds buffeting us. I’m am grateful for the able seamanship of our Board, our small, but hard working staff, and all the members that have helped us to make this year a successful one. Thank you.
On May 10th, at our Annual Meeting we announced the election of two new board members, Charles Gaba and Frank Leatherbury, and the re-election of Bruce Jones who was appointed to the board last May. My thanks to Phil Baldwin and Pam McDermott for their service on our board. Our new voting system went off well. We started opening confirmed ballots at 8:30 am Saturday morning, and just a little after 10:00 am we were able to tabulate the results. It was refreshing to be able to announce the results of the election promptly at 11:00 am at the start of the general membership annual meeting. While we only had three candidates running for three positions on the board, this was a good test of our new voting system. We received a tad over 300 ballots. While not a great total vote, this election was definitely not a controversial one.
With the election results announced, we closed the annual meeting and opened our regular monthly board meeting. For me, the best news of the day was Bruce Thompson's treasurer's report, announcing that our overall bank balances were slightly over what we had a year ago. While the final year-end income/expense reports are weeks away, it appears that we will end our first year in the black. I don’t have the figures handy, but I don’t believe that is something that has happened since some time in the distant, foggy past, especially not in the last few years with all the expenses associated with back-to-back hurricanes. Indeed, we’re in the black even though we had high legal expenses this last year. We’re optimistic that legal expenses will diminish this coming year.
We submitted an ambitious budget for this year, which includes a capital budget for numerous improvements to our properties. It will take hard work from us, and your support as members, to accomplish this goal. We are projecting income of $600,974 for the year, with running expenses of $470,247, and a $79,000 capital expense budget for major maintenance projects. Included in the latter is: asphalt work for our Isle Dauphin Club entry road (which is starting to remind me of my time in Albania); work on our irrigation system; new tile for our office, shop and grill; painting of the Club buildings; plus some minor roof work in our shop area and repairs to the tennis court surface.
By the time you receive this message you should be receiving your 2008/09 membership invoices. We need your support more this year to accomplish our goals and maintain financial stability, please pay these yearly dues. This year the membership card you receive will be more important for we will incorporate it into the beach-use system and are working on ways to use it elsewhere on the island.
Thanks to all who have sent checks for our Dauphin Island Political Action Committee (DIPAC). I truly believe that this is a prudent way to make our voice heard on the other Alabama Gulf Coast. It only takes a minute to include a small check to this fund while you pay your membership dues.
On the legal front, we heard that the DIPOA/Hartman vs. USG/CoE settlement agreement will go to the Court of Federal Claims with an appointment of an ADR Judge to hold a confidential neutral evidentiary hearing, probably this summer. Not great news! Our attorney's had hoped that the Corp would have chosen to do a feasibility study of our Island's coastline, as a preliminary study for an engineered beach.
In regards to, the West Surf Beach lawsuit brought by some of our members who are opposed to transferring POA beach property to
On the DIPOA/Pitts case, the Appeals Court ordered the local judge to find in our favor, but this ruling was appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court which has yet to rule on hearing it or not.
And, don't forget, property-tax assessments are mailed in early July from the Mobile County Revenue office, so monitor your valuations carefully. Property values on our coast continue to decline. You have only ten (10) days to contest these appraisals.
And lastly, the Board voted to retain the same officers for the year 2008/09. Tom Brennan, Vice-President, Phil Fusilier, Secretary, Bruce Thompson, Treasurer, and me as your President.
President
DIPOA
He worked up to the end, the legendary Ben Beurger survived Hurricane Frederic and became the center piece of the island with supplies and the unofficial mayor before there was one. He died Friday at 84.
Monday, April 21, 2008
By KATHERINE SAYRE Staff Reporter
Ferry service across the mouth of Mobile Bay could double this summer with the use of two vessels between Dauphin Island and Fort Morgan during the busy beach season, state transportation and ferry officials said.
But the main ferry -- a 162-foot vessel called the Fort Morgan -- has been out of service for repairs since December and needs approval from the U.S. Coast Guard before returning.
In the meantime, the smaller Marissa Mae Nicole vessel has ferried passengers on the route from Dauphin Island's east end to Baldwin County¢cm EQºs historic Fort Morgan site.
The ferry service is operated by Hornblower Marine Services Inc. for the Alabama Department of Transportation. The company runs ferries across the country, including the Gee's Bend ferry in Wilcox County.
Company officials said the plan is for the Fort Morgan and the 122-foot Marissa Mae Nicole to run simultaneously this summer, offering passengers a ride from either side of the bay every 45 minutes, rather than the current 1 1/2-hour wait period.
The 20-year-old Fort Morgan was taken to a dry dock in December for an inspection by the Coast Guard that is required every two years, officials said.
Leroy McMillan, chief warrant officer for the Coast Guard in Mobile, said the inspection found that the vessel was in need of several repairs, including fixing deterioration in the hull and replacing the engines with more fuel-efficient versions.
"The repairs to the vessel were extensive," McMillan said. "It's just taking time to do the work."
Neil Shanahan, Hornblower Marine's Gulf Coast operations director, said he expects the Fort Morgan to be ready by Memorial Day (May 26), the traditional start of the summer vacation season.
Boat Works Inc. is repairing the vessel at its Mobile shipyard, officials said. A state transportation spokesman said the total cost of the repairs won't be available until the work is finished.
Transportation Department officials took over the ferry service from the Alabama Historical Commission in 2005, after it was left in disrepair from Hurricane Ivan a year earlier.
The service was reopened in 2005 by Hornblower Marine, which signed a five-year contract with the state. It ran for about two months before Hurricane Katrina knocked it out of service again.
Last year, the Fort Morgan carried 8,784 cars in June and 8,970 cars in July, the two busiest months. A total of 56,565 vehicles used the ferry that year.
The Fort Morgan can carry as many as 32 vehicles and 149 passengers on a trip, while the Marissa Mae Nicole can take as many as 22 vehicles and 149 passengers.
Shanahan said that during the summer months, the ferry often traveled at capacity, with cars waiting at the docks, showing a need for a second vessel.
A study showed that about 1 in 5 cars that were left off of a ferry run decided to drive around the bay rather than wait for the next ferry, he said.
"I am very anxious to get the two-boat service up and running this year," Shanahan said. "I'm very excited about the possibilities the boats will bring us.
The state decided to lease the Marissa Mae Nicole from Hornblower Marine last year to provide both a backup boat and for expanded summer service, officials said.
In recent months, weather conditions have forced the service to stop temporarily, including two days in February, seven days in March and two days this month so far, Shanahan said.
Strong north winds have pushed water out of the bay, creating shallow waters near Fort Morgan that could cause the vessels to run aground, ferry officials said.
Kelby Linn, Dauphin Island Chamber of Commerce vice president and owner of a real estate firm, said local business owners need the ferry to run consistently for tourists.
"We can see business drop drastically when the ferry is not running," Linn said.
Tony Harris, Transportation Department spokesman, said officials have discussed dredging shallow areas but decided that the site would refill with silt, making the project ineffective.
The Department of Transportation is also planning a new system using digital signs to notify travelers long before they get to the dock when the vessels are out of service, Harris said. Such a system would save motorists an unnecessary long trip to east Dauphin Island or Fort Morgan.
© 2008 Press-Register
Residents of Mobile and Baldwin counties who are shopping for homeowners insurance today find that their choices are increasingly not the familiar names of State Farm, Alfa and Allstate, but instead names like Lexington, Lloyd's, Scottsdale and GeoVera.
The new insurers pushing into the area are not only different companies, but also companies writing in a different kind of market. While most familiar companies are fully under state regulation, most fast growing companies are "surplus lines" companies, subject to much less over sight by the Alabama Department of Insurance.
"I think it's going on all over the Gulf Coast and Atlantic coast," said Bill Wilson, head of research for the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, a trade group for insurance agents who aren't tied to any one company.
A combination of factors is pushing the market shift. The state's dominant insurers fear the losses they could suffer on the coast in the event of a severe hurricane, leading them to refuse new business and in some cases not renew existing policies.
At the same time, surplus lines, traditionally more expensive, are becoming price competitive for homeowners, some brokers and industry experts say. Investors have poured billions into new insurance ventures, particularly reinsurers, since 2005's Hurricane Katrina. By 2007, that new money was cutting the cost of insurance from these less-regulated carriers, which are far quicker in responding to market changes.
"Right now, the rates that are being written are competitive," said Bruce White of Gulf Shores-based Whitehaven Insurance Group.
A new marketplace
For at least the last 15 years, it's been difficult for homeowners very close to the beach to buy policies from traditional insurers, forcing them to turn to either the state's insurer of last resort, the Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association, or to surplus lines companies. Over time, local brokers built expertise in dealing with surplus lines companies, including syndicates based in the Lloyd's of London market, as well as branches of industry behemoths such as American International Group and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.
Now, the surplus lines companies and their brokers are spreading away from the beach as traditional insurers pull back. For example, White said his company started selling policies north of Gulf Shores for the first time last year, after it worked out a deal with its Lloyd's syndicate to sell up to $10 million worth of coverage in every ZIP code in Mobile and Baldwin counties.
The amount of premiums collected by surplus-lines companies in Alabama has more than doubled since 2001, according to state tax figures, rising to $541 million last year. Regulated insurers collected more than $1.12 billion in homeowners premiums alone in 2007, and billions more in other kinds of regulated insurance.
Regulators see the growth of surplus lines companies as both good and bad. Good, because they're making policies available where otherwise there might be none, plus paying a 6 percent premium tax, about double what regulated companies pay. But bad, because policy holders are more at risk if a company fails, and could find unpleasant surprises in their policy language, or from a quick cancellation.
"Certainly it's not what we would prefer, but during the instability of the market now, we're certainly happy they're here," state Insurance Commissioner Walter Bell said last month.
Buyer beware
Buyer beware starts with the fact that surplus-lines companies don't submit their policy forms to the state. That means purchasers have to check, or get their agent to check, what a policy really covers.
It's also possible that a surplus lines company could cancel or non-renew a policy more quickly than a state-regulated company. Admitted companies have to notify the commissioner 150 days before canceling policies en masse, said Ragan Ingram, deputy insurance commissioner.
People who buy a policy from a surplus-lines company also aren't protected by the state guaranty fund, which covers at least some of what's due policy holders if a regulated company goes belly-up. Regulated companies pay
1 percent of premiums each year to the fund.
That means buyers should check the financial strength ratings put out by A.M. Best and other rating groups
"The likelihood of any given insurer going under is fairly remote, but the lower the rating, the more likely it is," said Bob Hartwig of the Insurance Information Institute.
White says that his agency is able to match or go below the prices of traditional insurers in some areas, though his company may have stricter underwriting criteria. He said that 10 miles inland, his agency can write policies for 50 cents per $100 of value. In 2005, traditional insurers were averaging at least 68 cents per $100 of value statewide, according to figures from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Others who sell surplus lines agree rates are falling, even if they say theirs haven't gotten that low. J. Taylor Norton, an agent with Southern Alabama Insurance in Gulf Shores, said homeowners rates through his agency have fallen between 15 percent and 25 percent since November. Even so, Norton says traditional insurers are probably a better deal.
"If they can get coverage through the standard market, then that's where the homeowner needs to go," he said. "Price and coverage-wise, more of the time the standard lines market have a more complete policy."
But with the state's top three home insurers restricting new coverage along the coast, surplus-lines companies are likely to keep expanding.
"The standard markets don't want to take the chances these surplus lines carriers want to take," White said.
?T he debates about the future of the beaches of Dauphin Island have now reached the point where I wonder if we care enough to save what we love about coastal Alabama.?I say that because cm MDSH in spite of a recent report to the contrary cm MDSH the truth is, we are destroying the beaches of Dauphin Island.?By not artificially bypassing sand dredged from the south end of the Mobile Ship Channel, we are also increasing potential hurricane storm surge and wave damage in the Bayou La Batre area, undermining the Dauphin Island Lighthouse, and causing tremendous changes to the ecosys tem of the south end of the county.?These include killing the most productive oyster reefs in the state and increasing erosion of the extremely productive wetlands of the Mississippi Sound.? In essence, we are needlessly ruining south Mobile County to save a few bucks.?The solution is clear:?--The Port of Mobile, or some other local or state agency, should fund the additional costs required to put dredged sand back in the beach system.?--Dauphin Island should open access to its beaches to all of the citizens of Mobile County so that this expense is more politically acceptable.? The sand that comprises the beaches of Alabama flows, in some respects, like a river of sand along the Gulf shore in response to waves. Most of that movement is to the west until the sand reaches an inlet, or "pass," like Mobile Pass cm MDSH the water between Fort Gaines (on Dauphin Island) and Fort Morgan.?There, the sand should naturally "bypass" to the western beaches by getting pulled out onto a sand bar or shoal system by the outgoing tides, and then getting driven back to the beaches by waves to continue its journey to the west. At Mobile Pass, however, the sand falls into the south end of the Mobile Ship Channel, where it is dredged and disposed of in deep water beyond the beach system.?Instead of that wasteful disposal practice, we should have been artificially bypassing the sand to the downdrift beaches in order to replicate the natural process that's interrupted by the ship channel. That is a basic principle of prudent coastal management, and it is sound coastal engineering practice.?By not following that basic principle, well over 20 million cubic yards of sand have been permanently removed from the beach system of Mobile County by the ship channel dredging practices.?This is a tremendous amount of sand. If we had hauled that sand up to the city of Mobile to build a sand castle, we could have built one the size of the new RSA Battle House Tower and 100 more just like it.?But instead, we dumped the sand offshore and essentially starved the shoals around the lighthouse and the beaches of Dauphin Island.?The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 1978 report about Dauphin Island and the dredging problem correctly and prophetically said that if we did not start artificially bypassing sand, then "erosion would continue to claim valuable property on the island, ultimately causing hardships for island property owners and a lessening of the area's attractiveness for recreational activities."?All of that has occurred and more. A 1992 report by the University of South Alabama also warned of the problems brewing on the island due to the offshore disposal of dredged sand. As the primary author of that report, I never thought things would get this far without being fixed.?Dauphin Island experiences tremendous natural changes because it is a barrier island next to a very large inlet. Most shoreline fluctuations nationwide occur in similar locations.? The presently ongoing migration of Pelican/Sand Island onto Dauphin Island at the fishing pier is one such example. This is geology happening right before our eyes.?The same thing happened around 1710 and again around 1860, so it seems to be a 150-year cycle.?But the recent report by a consultant to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tries to conclude something that is physically impossible. Why is it impossible? Because another principle of coastal engineering is a "sediment budget," not unlike your personal budget, where we keep track of sand moving into and out of an area.?If more sand comes in than leaves, you have widening beaches. But if less sand comes in than leaves, your beaches will erode. The dredging is like a continuing series of large withdrawals from your checking account.?And this consultant's report is arguing that you are broke because you have always spent money, and not because he has been taking the withdrawals from your account.?Every cubic yard of sand removed by dredging is a cubic yard of erosion downdrift in the river of sand.?It is telling that the report was supposed to have had a co-author but that co-author could not agree with the impossible and wrote in a dissent that the report was "inconclusive, at best." This dissenter is the most highly-regarded coastal engineer in the nation and has been a member of the National Academy of Engineering for decades because of his seminal contributions in the field.?One question that I am often asked is, "Why do we not just put the dredged sand back on the beaches?" The answer, of course, is money. It will cost more to place the sand back on the beaches, or in shallow water so that waves move it to the beaches, than to dump it in deepwater.?That's because ocean-going dredges are very efficient at moving large amounts of sand. But the additional cost of doing the right thing here is very small compared with the overall cost of dredging cm MDSH and with the cost of the damage being caused.?So, who has benefited from these harmful dredging practices? We have, in that we have all benefited from the positive economic impact of the Port of Mobile.?This is not like the so-called "water wars" with Atlanta, wherein another sovereign state (Georgia) wants to take and use some of the water on its way to Alabama. We have fought a 20-year legal battle to protect our water rights.?But in this case, we in Mobile County are taking and throwing away 100 percent of the sand that was on its way to south Mobile County. We are only hurting ourselves.?We can have a great port and a healthy barrier island system. Indeed, we must.?Question is, do we care? Do we care enough about the beaches and property of Dauphin Island, the fate of the Sand Island Lighthouse, the marshes of south Mobile County, the oysters and the other fisheries, and the future vulnerabilities of Bayou La Batre and Coden to hurricanes??Or are jobs, jobs and more jobs cm MDSH at any expense to our environment and our quality of life cm MDSH the only thing we care about anymore??
A court-ordered study has concluded that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' dredging practices in the Mobile Bay ship channel did not cause erosion on Dauphin Island, according to documents released this week.
But beach erosion experts familiar with the island's sand delivery system called the report's conclusions and methods "arbitrary" and "physically impossible." The report also seems to contradict conclusions reached by the corps as far back as 1978, according to a Press-Register analysis of corps documents.
The study was released this week by lawyers representing Dauphin Island property owners who filed a lawsuit in 2000, claiming that dredging of the channel by the corps has blocked the natural westward flow of sand onto their beaches. The suit claims that corps practices caused massive erosion on the island.
The 316-page impact study was conducted as part of a 2006 settlement agreement between Dauphin Island and the federal government. Mark Byrnes, a Massachusetts-based coastal engineer, was appointed the chief investigator for the study.
The study concludes that scientific and historical data show "no measurable negative impacts associated with historical channel dredging."
As part of the settlement, three experts appointed by the involved parties were assigned to review the conclusions.
Dauphin Island's expert, Florida-based coastal engineer Robert Dean, wrote in his March 7 dissent that he has what he calls "valid questions" about the "arbitrary methodology" used in the study, and the study therefore should be considered inconclusive.
His dissent means the Corps of Engineers has until May to decide between two courses of action: Return to the U.S. Federal Court of Claims to resolve the dispute or declare the study inconclusive and consider beach restoration or other options, according to the terms of the settlement.
Scott Douglass, a coastal engineer with the University of South Alabama, has long maintained that sand moving in from the east falls into the ship channel, where it collects until the corps dredges it up and dumps it offshore -- a conclusion that motivated property owners to file the lawsuit.
"There is no way it cannot have an impact on the down-drift beaches," Douglass said on Friday, after learning about the study's conclusions. "It's physically impossible."
A 1978 report by the Corps of Engineers also attributed the erosion of 11 miles of Dauphin Island's western end to channel dredging, warning that if no action were taken, "erosion would continue to claim valuable property on the island, ultimately causing hardships for island property owners and a lessening of the area's attractiveness for recreational activities."
The report states that 6.8 million cubic yards of material had been removed from the channel and "it is assumed that none of the dredged material returns to shore."
The impact study released this week, though, claims that neither Douglass nor the corps "relied on a detailed evaluation of the historical dredging records" or historical records of the shoreline and water to reach their conclusions.
In a letter to Dauphin Island property owners dated March 20, their lawyer, Richard Davis, wrote that "we will urge the Corps of Engineers to declare the final report inconclusive and initiate the feasibility study."
Lawyers representing the federal government could not be reached for comment on Friday.
The impact study claims that breaches in the island caused by past hurricanes and storms have become refilled with sand, and the current break in the island caused by hurricanes Ivan in 2004 and Katrina in 2005 has also begun to close.
"If sufficient sand quantities were not being supplied to the island throughout the historical record, storm breaches along central Dauphin Island would be difficult to fill and beaches would not recover very rapidly," the impact study states.
The study also points to the far western end of the island, which has grown about three miles since about 1920, a period of active channel dredging, the study states.
Dean's dissent claims that "some of these data were collected many years ago at times when the survey control and technology were of lesser quality than at present."
(Staff Reporter Ben Raines contributed to this report.)
The Dauphin Island Property Owners Association is asking that everyone write to our Alabama senators and our local congressman in support of the east end beach restoration project that the Town of Dauphin Island has spearheaded through a consultant working with Washington, D.C. Please read the letter posted below from Bill Harper, DIPOA President which explains the process. I personally thank everyone in advance for their participation and efforts to make this project successful!
_________________________________________________________________
March 20, 2008
Dear property owners and friends,
The Dauphin Island Property Owners Association is working with the Town of Dauphin Island, as well as our other entities and organizations here on the island, to effect solutions to our long-standing problems with beach erosion. The Town has engaged a consultant in Washington, DC to search for and guide legislation through our legislative system that will offer aid to our island. In a short time he has been quite successful in getting our two Alabama senators and our local congressman to sponsor legislation that will help stabilize our beaches.
The first step in this process is a bill for $11.5 million dollars for restoration of our East End beach front, where needed, from Ft Gaines to the Dauphin Island pier, some three miles of beachfront. This section of the island was chosen first because of its importance to our overall infrastructure, our water supply, as well as providing protection to vital historical and environmental sites. Public access and no legal entanglements was also a consideration.
It is most helpful to this legislation if we can write letters to our Alabama senators, Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby, plus Jo Bonner, our local congressman, supporting this effort. Use your on words, but below I have furnished you with background information to aid you in drafting your correspondence. Keep your letter reasonably short, emphasis numerous reasons why this legislation is important to our area.
The erosion of the Dauphin Island Gulf of Mexico shoreline has caused real property loss and is endangering the island’s infrastructure. Contributing causes of the significant erosion along Dauphin Island’s shoreline can be debated as to whether they are the shipping channels (Mobile Bay and Fort Gaines Ship Channels) and ensuing dredging and dumping practices, or damages caused by past hurricanes, most notably Ivan and Katrina. Although past hurricanes have contributed to the erosion, many numerous other dangers to the Island’s physical and economic survival as a community and barrier island must be included. The engineering actions of man, combined with the entrance of Mobile Bay’s complicated sand bar arrangement and with ever moving smaller barrier islands, have created an ever-increasing danger to the survival of the beaches, dunes, maritime forests, tidal flats, salt marshes, and coastline.
Dauphin Island, a barrier island, is uniquely important to our whole area. It protects the mainland, and it’s vast wetland system, as well as the people and structures in south Mobile County. It offers village and seaside residences within short commuting distance to major industries, present and future. We are on a major birding flyway. The seafood industry is also most dependent on our presence, as we have seen the problems with the oyster beds at Cedar Point because of salinity problems in the area. We are Mobile County and Southeast Mississippi’s recreational short stay beach area. We host visitors from all of the United States, year round.
In order to get the letters to these legislators without delay we need you to either mail, fax, email with a Word attachment or bring in person to the DIPOA office at the Isle Dauphine Club/Golf Course. We will work with the Town to express mail these to our consultant who will hand deliver them to the proper offices.
Our mailing address is Dauphin Island Property Owners Assoc., P.O. Box 39, Dauphin Island, AL 36528, Fax 251-861-4229, or email at dipoa@skyynett.com .
ALABAMA SENATORS
SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS
335 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON DC 20510
SENATOR RICHARD SHELBY
110 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
REPRESENTATIVE JO BONNER
422 CANNON HOUSE OFFICE BUILDINGWASHINGTON, D.C. 20515
We need you help, please draft a letter to the above legislators as soon as possible.
Yours truly,
ACP Real Estate, Inc.
www.acpinfo.com
REAL ESTATE SALES – VACATION RENTALS – PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
251-861-3311 Local • 866-861-3311 Toll Free • 251-861-3366 Fax
900 Bienville Blvd. – P.O. Box 1177 – Dauphin Island, Alabama 36528
Real Estate Sales: Sales@acpinfo.com
Vacation Rentals: Rentals@acpinfo.com
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